With July just about being here, many are beginning to look ahead to the 2017 college football and are starting to make their predictions about who the best players and teams will be along with who are the best players returning this fall.

Today, Athlon Sports released their Preseason All-American teams and a pair of Hokies made the cut.

Greg Stroman and Tremaine Edmunds have both received Preseason All-American honors from Athlon Sports with Stroman being named to the Second Team and Edmunds being named to the Third Team. This is one of the first preseason honors to be released with Athlon Sports having previously released their preseason all-conference teams that included a multitude of Hokies on their All-ACC teams.

Stroman receiving Second Team honors is a little surprising but maybe not a big surprise given how Stroman had a very good junior season outside of his disappointing performance against Tennessee. Injuries limited Stroman to 11 games (9 starts) but Stroman was quite productive in pass coverage with 3 interceptions and 10 pass breakups along with 13 tackles on his way to making the All-ACC Second Team for the coaches and All-ACC Third Team for the media.

This may not be the last national recognition for Stroman while he also has a very good chance to make the Preseason All-ACC team. When evaluated among other ACC cornerbacks, Stroman consistently stood out as one of the best in man coverage and has developed into a very big part of a talented Virginia Tech secondary that will definitely have lots of NFL scouts watching him this fall.

Tremaine Edmunds has the potential to be a major star for the Hokies and nationally this fall with this Preseason Third Team All-American honor being well-deserved after he had 106 tackles, 18.5 total tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 9 QB hurries, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception, and 3 pass breakups in an impressive first season as a starter.

The junior linebacker from Danville, Virginia may have the best combination of size, speed, strength, and athleticism that Bud Foster has ever had to work with at linebacker along with having a great work ethic that has allowed him to become a star in Blacksburg and someone who should make the Preseason All-ACC team. Edmunds is a unique athlete unlike any the Hokies have had at linebacker at years, but has proven to be more than just a great athlete as someone with a great football IQ that definitely has the potential to be a First Team All-American this fall.